Fears Lead To Tears
by StarNerve
Summary: When someone is in depressed over even the littlest things or the harshest thoughts going on in their heads, the least you should do is listen, not judge. Fear wakes up in the middle of the night only to find Sadness suffering in silence. Will he help her out by telling her to move on or will he be there through it all? A short Fear/Sadness bromance oneshot.


**Hey there! Allow me to surprise you all with another Inside Out story. Thanks to Orangebird124's reminder of my idea, I decided to write it into action. Thanks. I nearly forgot about that.**

 **To anyone who is interested in some Fear/Sadness drabbles, which you hardly see on this fandom and it's pretty sad because I personally think it's a very cute pairing, and some platonic StarNerve (because that's what my works are all about) and Sadness/Anger reconciliation then you're on the right page. Then again not many people out there seem to like or even be aware of these pairings so pfft. And if you're someone who's feeling depressed or just down in the dumps, then I encourage you to read this. You might relate to it like I do...**

 **Happy reading and don't forget to review and fave if you loved it.**

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It was another calm night for Riley and her Emotions. No one was at Dream Duty and everyone was asleep, or so you think. Fear woke up that night, tired and restless. Something about this calm and peaceful night gave him a minor insomniac attack.

And then he heard crying.

For an emotion with no visible ears, he sure does hear very well. They were nothing more than soft sobs, whimpers that only make a cat's ears perk up. Fear was that cat, and the tail above his head twitched in the dark. He yearned for Joy's light at this point, but he didn't want to wake her in the dead of night. He grabbed his torch and bravely stepped out of his room.

Tiptoeing through the small, narrow hallway, all he could hear were his slippers lightly tapping against the purple marble. His eyes wandering around the dimmed walls as he was hallucinating these walls closing in on him. It was a sign that he was tired, but not ready to sleep yet. The torched scanned every inch of the hallway until it found a light that unoriginated from its switch. Fear lowered his flashlight, only to find a line of light faintly twinkling at the base of Sadness' door.

He ran slowly to the blue door and tapped with a trembling hand. The soft whimpers grew louder with every step until he was just in front of the Teardrop's room.

"S-Sadness? Are you still awake?"

The sobs and whimpers receded to absolute silence. To no avail, Fear could still catch her sniffing. His heavy eyes shot open and his frown grew open. "Can I come in?" His voice blared, albeit not loud enough to hinder the melody of humming and snoring echoing from the other rooms. There was still no response.

Fear couldn't give space to someone who wouldn't accept it, and a silent answer triggered his hand to twist the doorknob. He expected it to be locked, but twisted it open with ease. He never entered Sadness' room before. Anyone who dared to come in would get kicked out by the Teardrop's sudden outbursts. But he stepped in anyway. Looking around, he saw slabs of soaked tissues on the floor. Each one trailed over to the opposite side of the bed, where Sadness sat. The Raw Nerve gasped, dropped his torch and sprinted rapidly to his friend. He knelt to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. Her gaze was glued to her knees, and so were her arms.

"Sadness… hey," Fear softly spoke.

"What're you doing here?" Her voice was barely audible, barely a whisper. And Fear heard it clearly.

"I heard you crying. What's wrong?" Fear wasn't like Joy, who always asked Sadness if she was okay first. It was a rhetorical question that Sadness did not need to hear.

"It doesn't matter. I'm fine." She brushed him off and buried her head down further.

"It _does_ matter," Fear reminded her.

"You wouldn't understand. You don't know what it's like to be a failure," Sadness said. She knew exactly what to expect. Anyone she said this to would often say, 'And you don't know what it's like to live in poverty, to live in a country of war and famine,' or 'Other people had it worse than you so get over it already!' or 'No one ever said life was fair,' or 'It's all in your head,' or 'I know what it's like to fail too. I've been where you were,' or 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself,' even worse: 'It's your own fault. Snap out of it. You're only thinking about yourself.'

Instead, she received a pair of arms pull her close into a frail, thin embrace. She opened her bloodshot eyes, only to gaze upon Fear's bagged ones.

"You're not alone. I'm here for you," was all he said. Sadness could hardly believe what she heard.

"But… why? I'm useless. I'm worthless. I'm a burden to Riley's life, to your lives. I can't be what they want me to be. Sometimes, even though Joy and I came back, I still believe I didn't deserve it. I don't belong here."

Fear said nothing. He didn't judge her, he didn't distract himself in his thoughts from her. All he did was listen. So many thoughts raced in his mind. 'I want to help', 'There is hope', 'You can get through this', 'I won't let you drive me away. I want to be there for you', 'Even though you find it hard to explain your problems, I'll always do my best to understand you.'

He pulled her close, finishing shakily. "Because you matter."

Her eyes grew as he went on.

"We may not understand how you feel because we don't know how to truly feel what you feel. We won't leave you, we won't abandon you. You're not alone in this, okay? We're all working together to make Riley's life beautiful and your role is no bigger nor smaller than ours. We are equal. And even if Riley's life is over, we'll all still be here and so will you.

"And besides, we can all take care of ourselves so you don't need to worry that your pain might hurt any of us. We all love you, Sadness. Let us in, and we can get through this together," Fear finished and brought her tighter. Little did they know that three figures slowly creaked the door open.

Sadness sobbed onto Fear's chest, clenching his houndstooth vest causing him to wince slightly. The moment her eyes fluttered open, she caught sight of Joy, Anger and Disgust standing behind Fear with a look in their eyes that reflected her own.

"Joy," she whispered. Fear gasped and turned himself around, frantic lavender orbs meeting upbeat cerulean ones. His eyes were glossy and so were hers, but his smile greeted her and she reciprocated him. His gaze shifted to Disgust's awestruck appearance and Anger's straight face. If anyone could read Anger's mind, you could tell there's a blue rose hidden within a glass that's now cracking.

"Oh, Sadness," Joy sighed, brought herself to her knees, and hugged Sadness – who was still in Fear's embrace. "You know he's right. We already love you. And maybe you don't believe it now, but things will get better for you. You deserve better."

A sudden upturn of the lips formed on Sadness' face. She turned to Fear, who smiled in agreement.

"See? You do matter."

"T-Thank you." It was barely a squeak.

Disgust felt guilt flooding her mind. She immediately stepped in, knelt, and joined the hug. "Oh, Sadness… I'm sorry we made you feel this way. Can you forgive us?"

"I do."

Joy's watery eyes shifted to Anger's. "Come on, Anger, you too."

Not a single roll of the eyes was given. Not a huff. Not even a glare. No arms crossed, nor a snare. He willingly jumped in and hugged Sadness the tightest. He hated her, but he knew: what made him any different? They were always being pushed away. They were always forced to sit in the same corner, sometimes in the same circle. But at the same time, they were different. Being himself, he never allowed a single tear to escape. He resisted. For now.

"I'm sorry the most, kid. If I could catch your tears for everything I did then I would," he muttered sadly. Joy, Fear and Disgust were shocked to hear these words but were filled with positive emotions.

Sadness smiled at these words and hugged him back. "Thank you, Anger."

The night went on, and the Emotions had to sleep. Fear, who was the last to leave felt proud of himself. If he hadn't been audacious enough to step out of his room, then he never would have been able to ameliorate the situation with Sadness. The Teardrop, who now laid peacefully in bed, felt her eyes grew heavy from tears, exhaustion, and comfort. Before she drifted away, she uttered these last three words that made Fear pause at the door.

"Thanks you, Fear."

Stopping and turning, Fear wore a soft smile, retraced his steps back to her bed and kissed her forehead.

"Not a problem."

He pulled off one last smile and just like that, the switch was flicked.

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 **Thank you for reading.**


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